Note that your starting class only determines your stats and equipment at the start of the game. While this will obviously affect your first few hours of play, once you progress and level up you are able to adapt your character to use any equipment in the game.

Tiny being's Ring : Wear this to increase your maximum HP by a small amount

Old Witch's Ring : A ring given by a witch

Spoiler:

Let's you engage in dialogue with the White Lady (Queelag's sister)

BUT WHAT DO THE STATS MEAN?!

Pressing SELECT on your character’s or a weapon’s stat screen will give you a short explanation of each stat.

Vitality: Your HP. Diminishing returns kick in around 40 Vit.Attunement: Determines your number of spell slots ie: how many spells (including pyromancy and miracles) you can equip. 50 attunement gives you the maximum of 10 slots.Endurance: Determines your stamina (green bar), equip load and bleed resistance. Stamina maxes out at 40 Endurance, but equip load and bleed res. will continue to rise past 40 End.Strength: Weapon requirement, weapon damage modifier which usually applies to large weapons. Does not increase the speed at which you can swing weapons. Two-handing a weapon (triangle/Y button) increases your strength by 50%, allowing you to wield large weapons when you are well below the required Strength level.Dexterity: Weapon requirement, weapon damage modifier usually applying to curved swords, daggers and bows. Slightly decreases the casting time of spells.Resistance: Increases physical defence along with flame and poison resistance. I am yet to find a reason to increase this stat.Intelligence: Affects the power of sorceries (note: not miracles or pyromancy). Spell power is determined by the Magic Adjust of your catalyst, which in turn is determined by your intelligence. Some weapons scale with intelligence, too.Faith: Like Intelligence but for miracles. Increases miracle power, magic defence and the damage of weapons that scale with Faith.Humanity: Not really a stat. Can not be increased by levelling up, nor does it affect your level. It does, however, increase your item discovery rate, a variety of defensive statistics, along with your resistance to curses. Chaos weapons scale with Humanity.

THE NOT-IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS

Player actions
Kicking: Forward+R1/RB. Useful for staggering enemies and breaking their guard, some weapons replace the kick with a fancy backflip thing which is pretty much useless.
Jumping: Tap O/B while running. Really dodgy, take your time and line yourself up. Useful for shortcuts secret areas and the occasional plunging attack.
Two-handing: Triangle/Y. Increases your Strength by 50% increases your attack power and changes your weapon’s animations. Very useful if you’re confident in your dodging.

Stamina and equip load
Your equip load determines your roll and run speed.
Equip Weight above 100% of total Equip Load leaves the player unable to roll and run.
Equip weight above 50% and up to 100% of Equip Load gives slow movement, and causes the player to 'fat roll'.
Equip weight above 25% and up to 50% of Equip Load gives medium movement. Equip weight equal to and below 25% of Equip Load gives fast movement.
There are more speeds but those are the main categories. Under 50% is fine but ideally you’ll be under 25%.

How to use spells
To use spells, you firstly need to attune the spell at a bonfire then equip a catalyst in either hand. For miracles, you need a talisman rather than a catalyst. For pyromancy you need a pyromancy flame.

Humanity
Humanity exists in two forms: either as a consumable item or in the counter in the top-left of the screen. Humanity is only active when it is in that counter, to get it there you either need to use a consumable Humanity, help to kill a boss in co-op, kill another player by invading or absorb it from an enemy. Once it’s there it can be used at a Bonfire to “Reverse Hollowing”. This will make you human and allow you to summon friends for co-op but also make you vulnerable to Invasions. Once human, you will be able to use more Humanity to kindle Bonfires. Humanity in your counter will be left, together with your souls, with your bloodstain upon death. Dying whilst human will turn you hollow again.

Kindling
To kindle a bonfire you must be human and have at least one Humanity in the counter. Kindling will increase the number of Estus flasks you receive from that bonfire by 5.

Co-op and Summoning

Conditions for summoning:
The host (person whose game world will be used) must be human. The client (person joining the game) can either be human or undead.
The host’s level must be approximately 10 levels + 10% (above or below) of the client’s level.
The area boss in the host’s world must still be alive in order for a host to either summon allies or to be invaded by another player. A client can still be summoned even if the client has already defeated their own area boss.
The host must not have placed down a summoning sign. Summoning signs from other players will not appear in a host’s world if the host also has placed a summoning sign down. This is to prevent a network conflict of the host joining someone else's game world while the clients are trying to join the host's game world
After successfully summoning, the client will return to their world if the area boss is defeated, the client is killed or the host is killed.

Gestures
In order to maximize your enjoyment of Dark Souls, you will need to praise the Sun at every opportunity. Press Select or Back to access the gesture menu and raise both arms in salute to our magnificent father.

Poise
Poise is an armour stat, tucked away on the right side of the stat screen, which determines your resistance to stun-locking. Higher poise means you can take more hits, or heavier hits, before being staggered, allowing you to complete your animations even if you are hit during them.
There are specific amounts of poise at which certain weapons will stop stun-locking you in one hit:76 poise (51 for 1-handed resists):
All Ultra Greatswords 2h R1s
All Great Axes 2h R1s
All Great Blunt 2h R1s

Ran back to dropped souls, alerted bad guys. Fled into small building, activated lift, enemies all fell to their deaths. The corpses spaz out at the bottom and make me jump.
Useless merchant, fog door, "Knight ahead".

18. Knight. Hand axe does 45 damage, need pyromancy.

Stripped off, dung pie+symbol of avarice for Tearstone activation, ring of fog for the run. No aggro on the way.

Combustion does reasonable damage but

19. Thrusted
20. Fell down lift shaft like a moron.

Activate lift then fall for fall damage, speeding up tearstone activation. Activates just as I reach the fog door yay.

24. Thrust catches backroll.
25. Too slow to recognise the difference between rushing thrust and rushing slash. It was a thrust.
26. Lightning hand axe fares no better than the Fire, front flip catches backroll.
27. Heavy bolts do more damage than lightning bolts, land 3 while he does charge-up thing but mistimed side roll.
28. Tried dodging earlier on his big jump attack to so I could land more hits during his recovery, he landed on me.
29. Short, quick thrust is blockable, just. Catches backroll from up close.
30. Dodged early on running swipe out of panic. He looks tougher than he is, must remain calm and distanced from the drama on screen.
31. Running swipe hits around his back.

Assimilation complete.

He has an invisible amount of health, spamming front flips, resist the urge to break from the routine and "just finish him off", no real opening until he hits 3 in a row, hard to type and play at the same time.

YOU DEFEATED

Gives 114,000 souls.

No challengers in the arena booo.

32. Went to loot corpse, fell off edge. Large tite useless to me anyway but can't resist twinkly.
33. Input delay no joke.
34. Failed to spot caster in dark room, dark orb to the side of the head.
35. Woke up the mimic without a plan, minimal damage, no Lloyd's Talismans equipped, chomped.
36. Spiky head guy is out of range, whiffed, souls lost.
37. Impatience aggros 4 spike heads at once, fuck.
38. While healing, turned the camera to see a dark orb flying at my head.
39. Spike head poised through my jumping attack wtf.
40. Tried to run through, dark orb in the back.
41. Two spiky heads lying in ambush opposite shortcut, aggro one and both are on you.
42. 2v1 again, I'm a one-hit kill so it's Tearstone time.

43. Blob on legs is quicker than expected.
44. Caster, me being too slow with the crossbow.
45. Cornered by the spiky head on the lift, despite message warning me of his presence.
46. Blob still quite hard to read, ball in the face.

Found fog door at the bottom of the chasm, left it to explore more. To find a load of stuff I can't use.

47. Picked up another carvinglol, dropped off to lower level. While falling, realised I had under 20% HP.
48. Let the black ghosts get close. Boring enemy, burned through about 200 crossbow bolts down here.
49. Spiky head stupidity.
50. Took ring of fog off, sniped by magic man.
51-53. Trying to run to the fog door, hit in back, off steep pillar etc.

Safer route to come up behind caster, longer to run but fall damage speeds up tearstone activation.

83. Literally a wall of Hadokens, early dodge.
84. Slow smash.
85. And again. Should probably have learned by now.
86. Pressed dodge while blocking. Nothing. Lower shield, dodge comes out, left hand smack.
87. He occasionally starts a two-hit combo with his left hand. Hit with stick/catalyst
88. Balls from every angle.
89. Regular left-hander, early dodge.
90. Double handed jump attack. New record, boss HP down the "f" in "of".

Surrounding orbs seem to disappear before they hit Manus.

91. Regular left-hander, indecision.
92. Right hander. Right at the start of the fight again.
93. Too slow switching to shield, double-handed jump attack. Why am I switching to my shield.
94. If you're too close, his feet hit you as he jumps.
95. Orbs all around, too slow to get in safe zone.

Need Green Moss. Warp to Anor Londo, bask in precious sunlight.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/w0fmu64.jpg
No souls, Sentinels give 6156 with Covetous Silver Serpent Ring.
96. Sentinel, rolled the same way as horizontal attack.
Moss is 1000 a piece, can only afford 20, challenge accepted.
Back into the darkness.
Still in dragon form, Tearstone activation is laborious without Symbol of Avarice.
Realised I didn't have Tearstone on, almost killed myslef with fall damage.
97. I attack too late, then dodge early out of panic. Uppercut.
98. Indecisive, too slow to eat moss chew faster pls.
99. 2 hit combo, too slow to recognise opening, another 2 hitter.
100. Too slow to recognise his different projectile attcks. Death rain.
101. Didn't expect right hand after left.
102. Feet hit through my shield as he jumps.
103. Death rain, HP at the "f" again. Believe.
104. Forgot Slumbering Dragoncrest, caster attacks, I roll off edge.YOU DEFEATED

Tried to kick, sorry Dusk. Imminent sorrow.
Where to go, where to go...

Large open area, loot clearly a trap but sparkly twinkly.

105. Dragon's fire-breath.
106. Missed jump in Royal Wood.
107. Charging around the Royal Wood gathering loot, gardeners in pursuit. Tried to use Estus, slowly raised binoculars to face. Hedge-clippers in the back.
108. Spiky head man.
109. And again.

Forgot to activate Tearstone, dropping partway down waterfall leaves me with 10 HP. Good timesaver.
Heavy Crossbow doesn't do enough damage to justify extra risk/time taken to swtich in and out of two-handed.

Looks like one more jump attack will do it. He does the slow right-to-left fire breath, run in, jump attack, no kill. Miniscule amount of health, he jumps backwards, to crossbow or not...? Do it, he goes into an animation as I draw but the bolt hits him out of it.

Join Chaos Servants, get to +2 for shortcut. I wonder what Solaire is up to? Can't warp to Sunlight Altar. Warp to Parish, sprint past boar, under bridge then past Red Drake.
Ring of Fog and Slumbering Dragoncrest grants soul form style stealthiness, should use more often.

No sign of Solaire at the altar.
Found him at his first position.
Warp to Chamber of the Princess, talk to Solaire at upstairs Bonfire. I do have feelings for you.

Back to Sunlight Altar, talk. Refuse to join covenant, feel guilty.
Back to Daughter of Chaos, reverse hollowing.
Kirk invades, dies. I would have died if he hadn't hit the wall with his sword.
Use Heavy Crossbow for caterpillar thing by bonfire.
Shortcut, kill Chaos Bugs, enter Izalith, turn back, no Solaire.
Still not sure of a reliable way to save him. Reload game. Still nothing.

157. Kirk gets revenge.
158. Kirk again, failed backstab.

Worked that time.

Eagle Shield two-handed for Bed of Chaos.
Roll through branches and shield bash. Left part down, reload game. No time for honour in this fight.
Right part done, reload. Eagle Shield now has 95% physical defence.

What a blessing.

YOU DEFEATED

136,800 souls.

Still no Solaire.
He's still at the Sunlight Altar, at least he's not dead.

Should kill them instead of trying to run past.
Run past first three, kill axe guy, backstab halberd guy and run.
Roll forward upon entering to avoid halberd through fog, use Green Moss. Gives just enough time to dodge Gwyn's jump attack.

Body Form: you start the game in Body Form. While you are in this form you will have your full HP, be able to summon other players for co-op and also be vulnerable to Invasion.

Soul Form: Dying in Body Form reverts you back to Soul Form. In this form you will have roughly half your HP (dependent on Character Tendency, see below), do more damage (also dependent on Character Tendency) and are able to be summoned to other players' worlds for co-op or PvP. In order to regain your body, you must defeat a boss, help another player to defeat a boss, kill another player by invading or use a Stone of Ephemeral Eyes.

The Nexus

"What's happened, Have you lost your nerve?

No matter. Have a seat; we can sit here forever!

At least we will be safe!"

Your hub, where you'll find the essential NPCS and a corner in which to cry. The messages in the lower area provide a lot of useful information, read them. The community numbers the Archstones/Worlds from 1 to 5, starting from the Boletarian Palace and working clockwise (excluding the broken Archstone). Areas within the worlds are also numbered in the order they are encountered. For example, 4-2 would refer to the area of the Shrine of Storms between the Adjudicator Archstone and the Old Hero Archstone. 3-x simply means the entirety of the Tower of Latria world.
It's good to get into the habit of repairing your weapons with Boldwin and dumping any non-essential items with Thomas whenever you return to the Nexus.

Your equip load affects your run and roll speed. There are three different speeds/animations.
Equip Load below 50% of maximum gives you the fastest movement and roll.
Between 50% and 100% gives you the slower roll.
Over 100% and you will not be able to run or roll.

Your equip load includes all your equipped armour and weapons (any item you have equipped in the four armour or weapons slots). it does not include ammunition, consumable items or rings.

Spells and Miracles

To use a spell/miracle you must firstly purchase the it from an NPC, then equip it by choosing to Remember Spell/Miracle. Pay attention to how many slots the spell takes up along with how much MP it takes to cast. Spell memory and MP are determined by your Intelligence, spell power is determined by your Magic stat. Miracle memory is determined by your Faith. To cast spells you need a Catalyst, for miracles you need a Talisman.

Playing Online

Co-op: In order to host a co-op session in your world, you must be in Body Form and the boss of the area must be alive. Check near the start of levels and near boss doors for blue signs left by other players. Clients (players being summoned) must be within 10 levels+10% of the host's (those doing the summoning) soul level.
To offer your services as a phantom, use the Blue Eye Stone to place your soul sign. You must be in Soul Form to do this. Succeed in killing a boss in the host's world and you will revive to Body Form in your world.

Invasions: Whenever you are in Body Form and in an area with the boss still alive, you are vulnerable to invasions.
To invade, you must be in Soul Form and use the Black Eye Stone. Killing the host will revive you to Body Form.

Red Eye Stone Duels: Once you acquire the Red Eye Stone, you are able to place a soul sign challenging other players to a PvP duel. Losing will cause you to lose a soul level.

World Tendency

This is essentially a sliding scale, between Black and White, which influences difficulty, item drops and special events. Each world's tendency is separate and certain actions within a world can influence its tendency. Changes take effect when you return to the Nexus.White World Tendency: decreases enemy HP, attack power and defence. More chance of healing items being dropped, lower chance of upgrade stones and rare items being dropped. Attack power increased in Soul Form which stacks with Character Tendency.Black World Tendency: increases enemy HP, defence and attack power. Your max. HP in Soul Form is reduced, enemies hold more souls and are more likely to drop stones and rare items.

In addition to these affects, special events and enemies will appear at the extremes: Pure White or Pure Black.

"Stay the path, and you will soon be a monster yourself!
Can't you see you've fallen for their trap?"

Like the above but for your character, so it carries between worlds and game cycles. Killing black phantom NPCs and invaders will move it towards White, making the game easier by increasing your attack power in Soul Form. Killing Body Form NPCs (including merchants and the like) will move it towards Black, reducing your HP while in Soul Form.
Special events occur when Pure Black or Pure White Character Tendency is achieved.

Weekend play: I've lost the internet while I shift abode, which has somewhat mega-dicked my game plan of 'Jolly Co-Op ftw' but solo aint so bad. Ballsed up Gaping Dragon a couple of times though- mostly because it's such a boring, rote hp sponge of a fucking chore that I fall asleep and get sat on.

Main bit of advice would just to be patient. Rushing in, particularly when you're learning the combat mechanics, is liable to leave you with a rusty short sword through your back. The only other little hint I'll give you now is that with most weapons, flicking the left stick forward as you hit attack will throw out a kick that can knock human-size or smaller enemies reeling.

What SL's have you got available now, Face? I've got a SL101 guy who needs to take down the 4 Kings in NG+ and a SL1 gal who I'm going to bring up to SL15-20 and freeze for Parish PvP. I've also got a mage locked at SL30 and a Faith build at SL70 or so.

Would love some co-op with any, guys 'n' gals. Preferably the SL101 or SL1.

sl145, sl90-100 (faith, who's just hit NG+, so 4k will be a little while), sl80 mage in NG, sl10 at the kiln in NG and ready for anything and supplier of fine lightning wares, premade to +14, if you want. And a newly started archer. Just knocked up now. sl18, about to be 20 chillin in the parish for a bit, but already rockin ASS and the dragon crest.

Fancy jumping on in the very near future, Face (like, 15 minutes)? Take a wander through The Burg with my SL1? I'm unsure quite what weaponry I want to kit her out with at the moment. Something with fire or lightning... With any luck I'll get invaded and you can FUCK THEM UP.